Systems for personal protection are needed and utilized in many situations such as furnishing seat belts to protect the occupants of a vehicle or aircraft from being ejected from a secure position, or to shield consumers from improper use of a home appliance. Systems for personal protection are also needed in industry in various types of situations such as those in which workers operate or are exposed to mechanized instruments having moveable components such as power tools. Workers can be injured in situations in which bodily contact is made with the moveable components of a mechanized device or with debris thrown off by such a device in an industrial operation. In other situations, persons subjected to a risk of falling, such as those who climb walls, poles or towers, or those who work from scaffolds or the bucket of an aerialift truck, have a clear need for protection from the possibility of falling.
Protecting workers from the risk of falling has been a particular area of concern in industry because part of the success of any system designed to offer such protection depends in part on the fundamental question of whether it is in full and correct use by the worker once on the job. The best system of fall protection or restraint will not help if it is not being used.
Systems have thus been described in which, for example, persons using mechanized instrument are prevented from using the instrument unless and until a safety device is properly engaged. Of equal or greater interest and importance are systems that have been described in which persons exposed to the risk of falling are, for example, warned and reminded to engage safety belts and harnesses by sounding an alarm at the beginning of a job or activity. Such systems commonly accomplish that result through the use of electrical circuits created by giving a lanyard or harness belt conductive properties. In other systems, the hardware used for the purpose of attaching a safety belt or harness is itself characterized by the ability to measure optical or magnetic properties.
Other known systems related to furnishing personal safety protection are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,809,640, U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,744, U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,931, U.S. Pat. No. 8,408,360 U.S. Pat. No. 8,928,482, U.S. Pat. No. 6,486,788, U.S. Pat. No. 7,106,205, U.S. Pat. No. 7,448,925, US 2007/0208491, and US 2015/0019045 the teachings of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
While known systems such as those described above offer admirable functionality, they frequently contemplate that the necessary capabilities are built into a mechanized instrument as originally manufactured. A need thus remains for systems, methods and apparatus that are designed to increase personal safety but that also offer the benefit of being more adaptable to a retrofit of existing equipment such that older, existing equipment can continue to be used but used with a greater degree of personal safety.